Pressing Ayers

McCain isn't putting any money behind an Ayers ad at the moment, but he is still pressing the issue, Amie Parnes reports from his Wisconsin town hall.

There, a man asked how Obama came to be where he is, but didn't mention Ayers.

"Everyone here is just tickled what you're doing for us, and we're all wondering why Obama is where he's at. How he got here. Everybody in this room is stunned we're in this position. We're all a product of our association. Is there not a way to get around this media and line up the people that he has hung with?" the man asked.

McCain responded:

"Well, sir, with your help and the people in this room, we will find out. Just as Sen. Clinton said in the primary that we should find out about this association.

"Look, we don't care about an old washed-up terrorist and his wife, who still, at least on Sept. 11, 2001, said he still wanted to bomb more. That's not the point here. The point is Sen. Obama said he was just a guy in the neighborhood. We know that's just not true. We need to know the full extent of the relationship because of whether Sen. Obama is telling the truth to the American people or not. That's the question."

NOTE: I'd initially said McCain dropped Ayers from his stump speech. In fact, Ayers has dropped from Palin's stump speech at their joint appearances. He was never in McCain's.